According to the Athletic’s Tim Cato (our former Mavs Moneyball Editor), Harrison Barnes will miss the entire preseason with a hamstring injury of some sort:
Harrison Barnes tweaked his hamstring in practice and will be out “for a while,” Carlisle says. He’ll likely miss all of preseason, and there’s no estimated timetable.
— Tim Cato (@tim_cato) September 27, 2018
Hamstring issues are not limited to Barnes, with J.J. Barea working through a minor tweak of his own according to Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News.
Barea also has a hamstring issue, Carlisle says, but not as serious as Barnes, more day-to-day.
— Brad Townsend (@townbrad) September 27, 2018
During his two years with the Dallas Mavericks, Harrison Barnes has been one of the team’s most reliable players, suiting up for 156 of 164 contests. Carlisle noting that Barnes should miss most of the pre-season isn’t a great gauge of the injury’s severity, since the regular season kicks off in just 19 days.
This news is particularly challenging for the Mavericks as they attempt to work in veteran center DeAndre Jordan and rookie forward Luka Doncic. With Dirk Nowitzki previously committing to a bench role, this injury opens up a variety of issues. The bench already has a number of large questions coming into training camp, so the absense of a rotation player capable of soaking up 30+ minutes is going to result in some interesting roster combinations during pre-season games.